No one can deny that
the Coca-Cola Company is one of the few multinational corporations whose eyes
and ears are always on the ground to ensure that their customers are always satisfied
and enjoy some sense of belonging in their products. This in return helps
maintain and retaining their ever expanding market share. However there is a
strong feeling on the streets that their recent “Share a Coke Campaign” lost touch with the larger population in
their Kenyan market.
In my own analysis of
the Kenyan market, the campaign didn’t fare well due to
the vast diversity of the Kenyan population. A large segment of the Kenyan
population consists of the youths who are consistently developing a weird
tendencies of individualism and won’t take pride in anyone’s other than theirs.
As a result, many of those who didn’t find their names on the branded cans only
opted for the virtual version and these are what most of them shared on their Facebook and other social media
platforms. For the “little” few who got their match and opted to share, they
only made those in their circles feel alienated.
Anyone who has done a
bit of data mining on Kenyan Names in the last two decades will definitely
concur with me that there is a major shift from the traditional “English names”
and naming patterns but the campaign didn’t seem to capture this.
Since not everyone’s
ego could be satisfied by having their names on the actual cans, the best
alternative to these challenges could have been to associate them with their
regions and social backgrounds especially hoods, high school, campuses, estates,
towns, workplace and to some extend counties.
This could have worked
very well just as the idiom goes “old habits die hard”.
Many people, especially
the youths, accredit their current status to their backgrounds for molding them
and they are always proud and ready defend them. That’s why there are a lot of
groups on Facebook and WhatsApp and
other social platforms for alumni and estates.
Imagine a scenario in
the local stores stocked with cans branded with the likes of
“Share a coke with…..”
Wasee wa
UoN/USIU/DayStar/KIM
Wasee wa
Buru/Karen/Ronga
Waseewa Coast/Kiambu/Kisumu
Ma Cutiewa Cabbs /Stato G
Alumni of Agoro Sare
etc.
This is just a rough
idea of what the campaign could have looked like or sounded. Of course with some
few fine tuning here and there from their marketing team and giving it an
African touch would be required.
Generally the ultimate
goal of any promotion is to communicate their intended goal to their market
segment who in return respond with increase in sales but to attain this, the
brand consumers must feel some sense of belonging and ownership in the long
run.
About the Author
Javan Owalla
Management Consultant/ Market Researcher
B.com (Management Science) UoN
MBA USIU-Africa
0734886895
themarketsays@gmail.com
The
views expressed on this blog are accompanied by a detailed research paper. The team will appreciate any response or
inquiry on various management / marketing related issues.
